2026’s EngBio CDT Summer School has come to a close! A huge thank you to all involved in making this year’s Summer School possible. From speakers to session leads, from students to organisers, it’s been a pleasure to host everyone and participate in such an enjoyable and inspiring few days.

It’s the last day of our EngBio Summer School! We’re starting this am with a workshop from Dr. Katy R Mahoney exploring strategies & techniques to reduce that familiar feeling of imposter syndrome. Then we’ll look at how to get our point across & communicate effectively in different PhD settings.

We’ve been joined by Julie Castleman from the The Charlie Waller Trust to explore how we can protect our wellbeing in an often demanding and challenging research world. We’ve been exploring how to identify our personal stressors, the coping strategies we can use, and who to lean on for help.

Day 2 of the EngBio CDT Summer School has commenced! This morning, we’re thrilled to welcome our very own Jack Dalton and Vivenne Kuh who are leading a session on Responsible Research in Practice: tackling biosecurity challenges.

Over lunch, our Cohort 2 students showcased their recent short projects through poster sessions and this afternoon, we continued our programme of inspiring Engineering Biology talks:

We’ve had a brilliant morning at our second CDT Summer School with talks from guest speakers and our students. We welcomed Joshua Rees-Garbutt, who shared his journey from PhD to launching an EngBio startup, offering valuable tips for entrepreneurship in the sector.

We’re excited to kick off our annual Summer School this week at St Cross College in Oxford. Over the next three days, we’ll be bringing together a fantastic community of EngBio enthusiasts for a programme of talks, discussions, and training.

Meet our student representatives!👋 Our student reps have an important role in positively influencing the student experience in the EngBio CDT, by speaking with their fellow cohorts and providing feedback to the CDT team. We would like to thank our student reps for all of their hard work! 🌟

We caught up with Jack Dalton, a Cohort 1 student at @ox.ac.uk about his work in the Steel Lab: using automated evolution machines + AI co-scientists to steer bacterial evolution faster and more predictably for biomanufacturing, food, drugs, and even future space applications.

Cohort 2 attended RRI training last week at Belmont Estate. BE’s mission focuses on environmental restoration, sustainable food production, climate action & reconnecting people with nature. Our students took time to consider how their research impacts nature & how we can all become better ancestors.

Yesterday, the EngBio CDT's cohort 2 students finished their first short research project! Well done everyone for submitting your posters!🎉

This morning, Oxford celebrated May Morning 🌅 Oxford's May Morning celebrations date back more than 500 years. The tradition sees thousands of people gather along the High Street and Magdalen Bridge at 6am on 1st May to hear Magdalen College Choir herald the arrival of spring 🌿

Reminder: The deadline for this exciting Lecturer in Engineering Biology role at University of Bristol is this Sunday 26th April More information 👇

In March, student Marj Watts attended the British Applied Maths Colloquium (BAMC) at the University of East Anglia. Marj presented her masters dissertation via a poster. The poster was on modelling heterogeneous cell migration of chemotactic cells that generate the chemotactic gradient locally

In December, Robin Henry attended the CDC conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! A fantastic opportunity to engage with leading researchers and explore cutting-edge developments in control theory and its applications. Robin said: I mostly attended talks from the "Control theory and Methods for...

🚨 New opportunity! 🚨 We’re looking to recruit a Lecturer in Engineering Biology at the University of Bristol Faculty of Science and Engineering. This is an exciting opportunity to join a vibrant, interdisciplinary research environment at a time of significant institutional investment and growth.

The latest Innovation Training session for our Cohort 2 students focused on Market Research and how to build something people actually want. On Monday, students explored different aspects such as research design and methodologies, and how to gather and analyse information on customer needs,...

Last week, Kerstin participated in a panel discussion at the Advanced Therapies Congress, exploring what skills we need to efficiently deliver impactful therapeutics and diagnostics in the advanced therapy space.

In February, Alfie in Cohort 2 co-organised the Scale-Up Workshop! This was an interdisciplinary event, featuring a wide range of expert guest speakers, focused on challenges faced in process scale-up, which is a crucial step in bringing process innovations out of the lab. Alfie reflected;

Last Friday, our Cohort 2 students participated in a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). Here's Belinda's reflections: This Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) session was focused on prototyping several ideas for our exhibition in Bristol's Festival of Nature in June. We started the...

Yesterday was International Women’s Day (8th March). Women continue to be underrepresented in scientific research worldwide. In 2022, just 31.1% of researchers were women, highlighting persistent gender gaps in the field.

Yesterday was World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development 🌍 At the Engineering Biology CDT at Oxford, students explore a wide range of topics during their first year through short interdisciplinary research projects before developing one into their main PhD/DPhil.

In February, Bristol held their annual Light Festival which showcases the city’s vibrancy and creativity. Just another reason why we love being in Bristol! Our CDT manager, Joanna, took this photo when visiting the balloon installation last week. 🎈

Last Friday, students from all cohorts met in Oxford for training with Jean-Baptiste Lugagne on managing and documenting computational projects This was followed by a session on seminars and the summer school, then a social! Some headed to Junkyard Golf and others to Thirsty Meeples (board games)

Tomorrow is International Mother Language Day (21st Feb)! 🗺️https://lnkd.in/fwpdtSE Our staff and students speak so many different languages. Take a look at the video below of our students last year talking about their research ⬇️

Happy Friday from the EngBio CDT! 👋 Cohort 2 students are in the midst of their 4-week group innovation projects. We caught up with Oxford student Max, to hear about his project, which revolves around the testing of collagen-based materials for wound healing.

Our next student-led seminar is coming up! Organised by James Bridson (Oxford) & Sam Kemery (Bristol), we’re excited to welcome Assistant Professor Jennifer Brophy as our speaker. Jenn is a plant synthetic biologist at Stanford University. The lab's work explores how the form of a plant affects...

Happy New Year! Join us Jan. 29 at UCL 🌟 🦠 Breaking Bud: There and Back Again — A Scientist’s Journey in Engineering Living Systems Jason Yu (Bezos Center Sust. Protein) 🌱 Using synbio and pathway engineering to decode plant terpene biosynthesis Edith Forestier (Imperial) tinyurl.com/4dw57vnv

The Bristol deadline for the EngBio CDT is nearly upon us! Don't forget to submit your application on 13th January. To complete your application, visit the University of Bristol website: www.bristol.ac.uk/study/postgr...

Happy new year! 🥳 We hope you have a great 2026! As the festive season draws to a close, why not send in that application to the EngBio CDT?! As a reminder: ◾University of Oxford deadline: 8th January 2026, midday UK time ◾University of Bristol deadline: 13th January 2026, 23:59 UK time

From all of us at the EngBio CDT, we wish you a very happy holiday, and all the best for 2026! (And one last reminder for 2025!: 🔵 University of Oxford deadline: Thursday 8th January 2026, midday UK time 🔴 University of Bristol deadline: Tuesday 13th January 2026, 23:59 UK time)

Meet the team!👋 Joanna Wakeling Joanna is our CDT Manager, based at the University of Bristol She supports the CDT by coordinating all teaching and research activities. "I love how unique CDTs are and how enthusiastic our students are. It’s wonderful to see them through their whole PhD journey."

On 9th and 10th December, our Cohort 2 students attended hashtag#SynBiTECH 2025, Europe’s #1 Synthetic Biology Conference. The conference offered a brilliant opportunity for our students to hear from and connect with visionary researchers, start-up CEO’s and industry experts.

Meet the team!👋 Catherine Libby Cat is our CDT Administrator, based at the University of Bristol. She supports the CDT manager with the day to day running of the course "My favourite part about working in the CDT is getting to know the students. It's lovely hearing their backgrounds and passions!"

Last week, our students attended their third Innovation Training, delivered by Ben Miles from Spin Up Science. They were exploring the entire commercialisation journey, all the way from spotting an idea in your research, to taking it to market. 💡 🎯

Join our third EngBio CDT seminar hosted by Cohort 1 student Yige Chen! Soft and Smart Materials for Biomedical Engineering and Robotic Applications - Jonathan Rossiter & Lei Wu Time: 2pm Date: 11th Dec 2025 Location: Online 🔗 Register here: bit.ly/4rs8IrE We look forward to seeing you online!

Applications to the EngBio CDT are open! ◾University of Oxford deadline: Thursday 8th January 2026, midday UK time ◾University of Bristol deadline: Tuesday 13th January 2026, 23:59 UK time You can apply here: ◾University of Oxford: bit.ly/EngBioCDTOx ◾University of Bristol: bit.ly/EngBioCDTBrist

Our Cohort 1 student Felipe Xavier Buson has published a new article in ACS Synthetic Biology: A Decade of SBOL Visual. The paper looks back on ten years of SBOL Visual, an essential standard for clear, consistent genetic design diagrams, and explores how its use has evolved across the field.

In October, our Engineering Biology students took part in iGEM at the Grand Jamboree in Paris. Six EngBio CDT members attended: Robin Henry, Gil Krikler, Maria Tașcă, Jack Dalton and Felipe Xavier Buson served as judges...

Earlier this month, Cohort 1 students gathered at Coexist Community Kitchen in Bristol for a four-course meal inspired by their food memories 🥣 During the meal, we discussed our PhD/DPhil journeys, reflecting on the past, present, and future.

It's not too late to sign up to our next student-led seminar, taking place tomorrow at 3pm! The seminar features Dr Jenny Molloy from the University of Cambridge, who will discuss open-source technologies to accelerate synthetic biology & local reagent manufacturing. Register here: lnkd.in/euCbBjnc

In their second Innovation Training session, our students ventured into the world of Intellectual Property and Tech Transfer💡🧾

This week, we welcomed Mike Vella and Majid Mosayebi from @nanoporetech.com Through their lecture, they provided our students with an insight into Oxford Nanopore’s work, and how they use theoretical and computational frameworks to understand the process of DNA molecule capture by nanopores 🧬

🎄 Join us 6pm Thurs. Dec. 4 at Imperial! 🧬 How to build a protein Noah Sprent (Change Bio) 🦠 Engineering altruism: How metabolic exchanges shape synthetic microbial communities in bio-manufacturing Diego Ruiz (Ledesma-Amaro Lab / Imperial) t.co/4tHIVGUJzc

This week, the EngBio CDT hosted David Vincent from eXmoor Pharma as part of our Industry Seminar Series. David provided insights into process development challenges in Advanced Therapies and how eXmoor Pharma can help overcome these.

Cohort 2 completed their first teaching block at Oxford and are now in Reading for the annual retreat! This is a chance to reflect, connect, and learn through sessions on bioethics, EDI, and responsible research. It’s been great to see the enthusiasm, teamwork, and curiosity from everyone involved!

Interested in the Engineering Biology CDT? 🌟 Join our webinar on Fri 14 Nov, 12:30 PM (GMT) to learn about the course, 2026 entry, and the application process. Register by Thu 13 Nov, 12 PM: bit.ly/4noQx2U We look forward to seeing you!

The second student-led seminar this academic year will be hosted by Cecilia Gallego Rubio. Cecilia has invited Dr Jenny Molloy, University of Cambridge, to deliver a talk in Oxford.Titled 'DNA Parts to Partnerships: Open Source Tech to Accelerate Synthetic Biology and Local Reagent Manufacturing'...

Congratulations to student Jack from Cohort 1 for winning Best Poster at the Future Talent Competition during the TechBio UK Conference, organised by the BioIndustry Association (BIA)! 🏆 #TechBioUK

Meet the team!👋 Emma Gregory Emma is our CDT Administrator, based at University of Oxford. She is the main point of contact for Oxford home base students "The best thing about working with the students is hearing all their amazing work. I can’t wait to see where their research will lead them!"